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Getting 'the Hall' off the ground no small job a century ago

The Lincoln Community Hall stands as the oldest building on Lincoln's Main Street, the sole survivor of the era when the area's original miners were the "old timers," ranching held sway over the community's economy, and summer homes and tourists were the exception rather than the rule

At that time, Carter V. Rubottom and his wife Nora ran a cattle ranch about two miles west of Lincoln. Several decades later, Rubottom recorded his recollections of the era in an unpublished memoir called "Montana Memories," which included an account of the construction of the Lincoln Community Hall on a 75-foot by 100-foot piece of land purchased from William "Peg" Paulman for $40.

Rubottom, along with Robert D. Sloan and Charles O. Miller were the first trustees of the Hall.

The Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society included his account, reprinted below, in "Goldpans and Singletrees," their book on the early history of the Lincoln Valley.

Along about 1916, the folks around Lincoln decided to build a new Community Hall.

Meetings were held and an association was formed, officers elected and plans began to take shape. We agreed to build it of logs, but the size and shape required a lot of discussion.

I had been reading about round barns for livestock, so suggested a building of that form. It was finally decided to make it octagonal, twenty-four feet to a side. The roof would be shaped like a pyramid and the dance floor would be of maple.

Final plans were drawn up. We had a good carpenter, Tom Hensler, who lived on a place in Sauer Kraut Gulch and had the time to supervise the work. The labor was largely donated by the rest of us.

We had to collect some money to buy materials, so we held dances on every possible occasion and we musicians played for free. We held basket socials and raffled needlework of all kinds donated by the women. The site for the hall was purchased from the man who owned the hotel and surrounding land. Merchants in Helena, our nearest town and trading center, donated some money to help out.

In the fall of 1916 a bunch of us cut the logs and decked them in the woods on Stonewall Creek, about five miles from the site of the hall. The cement foundations were poured before freezing weather hit us.

Ira Tuck and I offered to haul the logs down, and by the time we were ready to start the snow was over three-feet deep in the hills and sledding was fine for hauling.

I recall one day when we had to break out a fresh rollway. Ira had a fine little team that was wise to snow. I was breaking a green colt in my team, so he broke out the road. The snow was so deep it hit the neck yoke. The team would lunge ahead a few feet and then lie in the snow and rest. After the first trip around the log pile, it wasn't so bad and about three rounds broke the road enough for us to get loaded and out.

There was one hill in the road where we had to use a rough-lock on the hind runner to get down with the loaded sled. At the foot of this pitch we removed the chains and hung them on a tree. On the return trip, we picked them up and took them to the top of the hill where we hung them up ready for use again.

We hauled down 120 logs and then a bunch of us started the building.

We dug a trench in the deep snow, exposing the foundation, then set up trestles and peeled the logs. We mortised the ends to make the joints. This was some job as the logs were 27-feet long and at least 10 inches in diameter at the small end. The logs were rolled into place on the walls with ropes and skids, two men pulling from inside the building.

One day Firm Harris and I were pulling up the top log on one section and when it reached the top it came on over and fell on us. We were caught in the snow trench, but made ourselves as small as possible against the snow and the log missed us, but it was a close shave.

Each log joint was bored and a piece of hardwood buggy wheel spoke was driven through the hole into the log below, so there could be no slipping of the joints when the weight of the roof came on the walls. By spring we had the walls up and the false ceiling in place.

Tom Hensler built the roof trusses on the false ceiling. The main truss was built to extend clear across the building in the center and was formed of three thicknesses of 2x12 planks. When it was ready to raise into position, I brought up my 1913 model Buick car with a double block and rope used to stack hay. We fastened the ground block to a stump and the other block to the peak of the truss, which we raised as far as possible by hand and propped in position. I hooked the pull rope to the Buick and started down the road.

The truss started up and I thought I was going to make it, when the anchor stump pulled out and the heavy truss fell back to the platform with a loud crash. I thought that would surely break the truss, but we were lucky and no damage was done. We anchored the block to a good green tree and the next pull raised the truss into place. The short trusses were raised by hand and fastened to the main one in the center. This made the strongest roof construction I have ever seen and the snows of forty years have not damaged it.

Little work was done during the following winter, except for sheeting and shingling the roof. Then in the fall we fell to again and laid the floor during the cold weather. A platform six-feet wide and four-inches high was laid all the way around the hall, except for the doorways, and benches were built and placed end-to-end on this platform. A brick chimney was built at the north side to handle the big wood burning heater. A portable stand for the musicians was placed in the center of the floor in summer, but moved close to the stove in winter.

We finished the hall in February of 1918 and had our dedication dance on the night of the 22nd.

People came from miles away and we had a fine time. But while we were getting things ready that day, a northeaster hit and the night was miserably cold. We danced and kept warm. No mere blizzard could dampen the fun at a Blackfoot dance. Many of us stayed until daylight, as it would have been dangerous to try to find the way home in the dark with the blizzard blowing.

One winter shortly after we completed the new hall, the Sherlock family moved to the valley from Helena. Mrs. Sherlock was a talented woman, and was interested in all the affairs of the community. She organized a home talent show to be staged on February 22, a holiday we always celebrated.

A bunch of us agreed to enter into the fun, and we worked hard to make it a success. Ike Woods and I volunteered to furnish the music and played some lively tunes to fill in between the acts. We got by alright with a big hand from the audience. Every able-bodied person and child in the valley turned out for the show and enjoyed it immensely. After the show we danced until daylight, which was customary procedure in our valley.

As Rubottom noted, enough money was made the first year from dances, basket socials, and needlework raffles to build on a dining room. In 1920 Leonard and Mary Lambkin donated a 100-foot by 150-foot piece of land for an addition; this land was part of their 1919 purchase from Paulman. The trustess at the time of this addition were A. P. Hensler, Carter Rubottom, and Bessie Bowden.

Rubottom left Lincoln for the Livingston area sometime around 1929. When he penned his account of life in the Upper Blackfoot, apparently in the late 1950's, he lamented the declining use of the Lincoln Community Hall, compared to its early days.

As the years passed, conditions in the valley changed. Better roads and automobiles brought in summer people from the cities, summer homes were built, and many of the old-timers moved away or died. A bar and dance place was built nearby and the popularity of the old Community Hall waned.

Now it is seldom used and it sits there among the trees like an old man dreaming of his romantic past.

Although the Community Hall has had ups and downs over the last century, Rubottom, who passed away in 1978, would be gratified to know the building doesn't seem to have been "seldom used" for long. As 'Goldpans and Singletrees' noted, "Through the ensuing years, this building has been lovingly cared for by the people of Lincoln, and in turn, the building has provided the setting for many fund raisers that not only provided funds for the buildings' expenses, but for money to provide a new school gymnasium."

The Lincoln Community Hall entered the National Register of Historic Places Feb. 22, 1987, due to the efforts of Robert Didriksen and Bernice Lambkin.

(Excerpts of 'Goldpans and Singletrees' and 'Montana Memories' courtesy of the Upper Blackfoot Valley Historical Society)

 

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